A micromodification of Somogyi’s starch-iodine colour method for determination of α-amylase in media from salivary gland tissue cultures, as well as homogenates of such tissues and in saliva, is described. The method was based on photometric determination of the starch-iodine colour changes during enzymic degradation of starch substrate at wavelengths 550 or 610 nm. No additional, apparently amylolytic effect, such as seen in serum, was observed by addition to the samples of 1 mg/ml of albumin and globulin, or about 1 mg/ml of proteins from homogenate of spleen. The test allows a reproducible and rapid way of calculating arbitrary units of α-amylase.